Description: Brad Pitt takes no prisoners in Quentin
Tarantino’s high-octane WWII revenge fantasy Inglourious
Basterds. As war rages in Europe, a Nazi-scalping squad of
American soldiers, known to their enemy as “The Basterds,”
is on a daring mission to take down the leaders of the Third
Reich. Bursting with “action, hair-trigger suspense and a
machine-gun spray of killer dialogue” (Peter Travers,
Rolling Stone), Inglourious Basterds is “another Tarantino
masterpiece” (Jake Hamilton, CBS-TV)!

The Film:

With Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino has made his best
movie since Pulp Fiction. He has also made what could arguably be
considered the most audacious World War II movie of all-time. If you
think there are rules for this sort of motion picture, guess again. And
it's not just that Tarantino is using the spaghetti western as his
template; it's that the sheer unpredictability of where all this is
going makes it compelling from beginning to end. Even the film's
occasional artistic flourishes (such as chapter titles and out-of-period
music pieces) work within the context of what Tarantino is trying to
accomplish. This is clearly an attempt by the director to expand his
range and step outside of the comfort zone in which he has worked for
the majority of his career.

Tarantino brings to Inglourious Basterds his not inconsiderable
knowledge of films. The movie is awash in references - some subtle, some
obvious - that run the gamut from D-grade exploitation flicks to A-list
classics. This is not, as has been reported in some places, a remake of
the 1978 feature The Inglorious Bastards, although the title is an
homage. Reportedly, some of Tarantino's nascent versions of the
screenplay used elements of the earlier film, but those are mostly gone
in the final edition. This is pretty much 100% Tarantino, which could be
good or bad, depending on your opinion of the man's work.

No matter what one might think
of the movie - the image quality 'rocks!'. This is one of
the sweetest looking films on
Blu-ray
- of this entire year.
Aside from skin tones appearing somewhat reddish at times -
I really can't find a demonstrative flaw with this video
transfer. Colors are far brighter and truer than
SD could relate utilizing a softened pastel for blues and
darker officer uniforms. Contrast exhibits healthy, rich
black levels. This
Blu-ray
has a very pristine quality but grain not particularly
apparent. There is some depth but the smoothness
doesn't 'wax' the figures and while I suspect some digital
manipulation it is not of any significance to have disturbed
my viewing experience. This
Blu-ray
probably looks very close to the theatrical intent and will
advances handily beyond the simultaneously releases DVD
editions.

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY
CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

Audio :

The
DTS-HD Master 5.1 at 3516 kbps is as defining as the video

.
When ever called upon with Tarantino's frequent use of rousing musical
scores the audio responds with a crispness with abundant range and depth.
Inglourious Basterds' music scrambles all over the place from
Lalo Schifrin and Dimitri Tiomkin to Ennio Morricone and some Billy
Preston. There is even a bit of David Bowie to keep you shifting. This
track sounds perfect to my ears. I am a bit bothered by the burned-in
bright yellow subtitles for the non-English dialogue. The is extensive
with many parts in German and French requiring translation but the
optional subtitles are in a white font with black border - appearing only
under or near the character delivering the dialogue - typical of
Universal - are superior in their display.
My Momitsu
has identified
it as being a region FREE disc playable on
Blu-ray
machines worldwide.

Extras :

Unfortunately
the supplements don't include a Tarantino commentary and despite the
longish list - there really isn't too much here handling the production
and story aspects of the film in question. We get 3 extended and
alternate scenes - Lunch with Goebbels, La Louisiane Card Game,
Nation’s Pride Begins running less than 12-minutes in HD.
Probably the best extra is the Nation’s Pride 6-minute faux-film
within the film Inglourious Basterds. Amusingly still in
character The Making of Nation’s Pride continues with the charade
from another 4-minutes. The Roundtable Discussion with Quentin
Tarantino, Brad Pitt and film historian/critic Elvis Mitchell for about
1/2 hour in HD covers some of the details fans may wish to know about
what is crawling around the director/writer's fertile imagination.
Veteran actor Rod Taylor gets in some camera time with a short
conversation and even shorter take on on Victoria Bitters, the
Australian beer. Quentin Tarantino’s Camera Angel is as
unimportant as the Hi Sallys – Gag Reel where cast and the
director wave hello at the end of scenes to, frequent Tarantino
collaborating, editor Sally Menke. Elvis Mitchell returns with a Film
Poster Gallery Tour. There is an untested Kill'in Nazi's Trivia
Challenge, some trailers and
Blu-ray
specific 'My Scenes', 'DBOX Motion Controls' and, presently, un-launched
BD-Live functionality. Included is a second disc is the Digital Copy of
Inglourious Basterds.

BOTTOM LINE: I watched this film quite recently and it's hard to know what to
think. Tarantino has gone off in another direction that
actually flatters his filmmaking ability. I wasn't as keen
on the silliness of the film with Pitt's goofy accent
sometimes appearing like a Peter Sellers type. As
an action/thriller this holds up very well and you can never
really get a handle on the direction things may be going. It
has graphic violence that may disturb some viewers but I
doubt most weren't anticipating this knowing the director's
reputation. At times it is an engaging film with something
hidden, fairly deeply, beneath its surface. I'll have to
give it another whirl and some contemplation in the
forthcoming days but I have no qualms with the
Blu-ray presentation at all - which is marvelous enough to be demo for
some. Supplements could have done more for
appreciation but as it stands we certainly recommend a spin
(or more)!

Gary Tooze

December 3rd, 2009

About the Reviewer:
Hello, fellow Beavers! I have been interested in film
since I viewed a Chaplin festival on PBS when I was
around 9 years old. I credit DVD with expanding my
horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out
new film experiences. I currently own approximately 9500
DVDs and have reviewed over 3500 myself. I appreciate my
discussion Listserv for furthering my film
education and inspiring me to continue running DVDBeaver.
Plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our
Amazon links.

Although I never wanted to become one of those guys who
focused 'too much' on image and sound quality - I
find HD is swiftly pushing me in that direction. So be
it, but film will always be my first love and I list my
favorites on the old YMdb site now accessible
HERE.